The Traill Dragons Basketball team competed in one of the biggest youth basketball tournaments in Asia, from 16th-19th October, 2014. The tournament was held at United World College and Tanglin Trust School in Singapore over four days. The standard of the competition was very high with many teams entering from countries all over the Asia-Pacific region such as Singapore, Australia, China, Indonesia, UAE, Thailand and India.

This trip to Singapore was one of the most enjoyable trips for the Traill Dragons U13, U15, and U18 teams. The wide variety of age groups made it fun and there was an incredible team spirit among all the players. The choice of hotel was in the quiet area of Santosa Island where the players could rest and unwind after each day.

The focus to do well in such a prestigious tournament, was always in everyone's minds. However, the students all had fun throughout the trip and this helped to relax the players. This team spirit enabled an excellent performance by all the Dragons.

It was overwhelming on our first day to see so many teams and especially the size of the players of the 5 Australian teams at the tournament. The team from Dubai also had some of the tallest players. However, the speed and skill of the Indonesian teams was intimidating.

The Traill U13 team placed 8th overall, playing with heart and team spirit. They were out-gunned by more experienced and at times much bigger players. From the first minute until the last minute of each game all the U13 players were 100% committed to attack and defend. All players gained a great deal of experience and improved from one game to the next.

The U19 team went unbeaten for the first 2 days. The evening game on the 2nd day was against one of the best teams in the tournament, The Hawks. The Hawks took the lead early on, with the fastest and most physical players in the tournament. The U19 Dragons had never met opposition with such ferocity. The Dragons raised their game and with excellent game strategies by our Head Coach, Mr. Troy, the Dragons took the lead in the 4th quarter and finally won an incredible 'battle'. After the high of such a win, there was bad news later that evening when one of our best U19 players "France" was taken to hospital at 2.30am with chest pains.

The whole team was up with concern for their teammate. "France" was later discharged from hospital but was not allowed to play the remainder of the tournament. The next morning was an early start with all our games starting at 8am - a 5.30am wake up call. This was the team's worst day; the U19 team had to play two big Australian teams in the morning session. The Dragons suffered two close loses in the last minute of each game. Later in the day (after some needed sleep), the team regrouped to play well again, but the Dragons had already narrowly missed out to enter the semi-finals. The U19 placed 5th overall. Having beaten the tournament favorite, The Hawks from Indonesia, the U19 Dragons watched the finals knowing that they had missed an opportunity to challenge for the championship.

There was far better news for the U15 Dragons who were a force to reckon with. They went day after day beating one team after another. They were the only unbeaten team to enter the semi-finals. However, they had to meet the might of an Australian team, The Sharks. The incredible skillful playing from Plan, Gillian and Kurt, drew huge applause from the crowd as they excecuted fast complicated set moves. They could not have done such moves without the great playing of the rest of team, who also played phenomenally. The Dragons overcame the Sharks and won easily, to enter the Finals. Sunday was Finals day for all age groups. Another tournament favorite in the U15 category was the Jetz from Indonesia. The Dragons faced the Jetz in the finals with a hall filled with spectators. The noise of the cheering was so loud that it was difficult to hear the instructions given by Coach Troy. Every single played with intensity and their months and years of hard training paid off, defeating the Jetz to become the Asia-Pacific Champions 2014.

Well done to the players in all 3 Dragon teams. The win is for 'all' the teams, as they were part of the journey together in Singapore. Thank you to all the parents who came to support and also the help they gave the teams with food and organization off the court. They too were part of the team spirit to achieve this success. A big thank you also the to Head Coach Troy and Assistant coaches Joe and Jayde, whose many months of training the players, the planning of set strategies and the installing of the belief of excellence resulted in outstanding players.